One of the responses to my piece on Sunday about supermarket value lines intrigued me. I made much of the fact that cheap supermarket pies contained beef connective tissues, and that cheap pork sausages contained pig skin. In response, Wordswort pointed out - twice, as it happens; we admire your persistence – that some people liked the sort of stuff I was dissing. Reaching for a cultural example that he thought I might recognise he pointed out that the Jews have a thing for chicken fat – schmaltz – which others might discard. All true.

In tonight's edition of Dispatches on Channel 4 we feature two families struggling to get by on much reduced shopping budgets - the wonderful things people will do for television – and trying to make their food pounds stretch as far as possible.

It got me to wondering. Often here at Word of Mouth we luxuriate in the good stuff, which frequently means the expensive stuff. This time I want to examine the other end of the meal ticket. Just how cheap can dinner be? Share with us your ultimate budget recipes, your special tricks for making food go further.

It's fair to say, I think, that the vegetarians are likely to win this one. Don't be shy, we still want to hear your thoughts. But I'm also intrigued by cheaper meal options which do involve animal proteins. After all, we are in the depths of a recession and at times like these every little helps.

You know, one of the supermarkets really ought to adopt that as their catchphrase.